Favorite Doors Solo

[Michael Gallant]

Hi Everyone,

 

What's your favorite keyboard solo on any song The Doors recorded?

 

Just asking:)

 

Thanks!

 

Mike

[Dave Horne]

I'll sit this one out.

[Jazzwee]

When I saw the title - I immediately thought of you Dave.

[delirium]

there is only one which is good enough, so what's the choice...

[mate stubb]

I like the piano solo on "Crystal Ship". Nothing fancy, but sets a nice little mood. I really don't think of Ray's solos as being particularly memorable. They just seem to me to be extensions of what he was already playing.

 

I guess his later stuff like LA Woman fills more of a traditional solo spot.

[Moog_Man]

i really like the solo on "love me two times"

 

and who can deny ray's rhodes work on "riders on the storm"?

[Hardway]

Yeah- my favorite solo is "Riders...". My favorite riff is on "20th Century Fox", right before the chorus, and my favorite hook is "Peace Frog". (My very first band was a DOORS tribute band, 1984-85). We were WAY into it. Actually went down to L.A. for a few days and stayed with Jim's sister, Anna, and got turned on to some non-published Lizard King poetry and recordings.

 

Edit: my favorite riff is not BEFORE the chorus in "20 Century Fox", it's in the MIDDLE of the chorus, after the Am, G, F progression, the riff on the E7.

While I'm here, the reason I like the "Riders..." solo is because of the different moods he sets within the solo. He uses that dreamy dorian in the beginning, blueses (is that a word?) it up in the middle with the b5, then goes back to the dorian but rocks it, then fades out nicely with the descending thirds.

[HomeAmateur]

I have always HATED the Doors, almost with a passion. I have never been able to figure out why so many people like them so much.

 

To me, every song sounds like someone moaning and growning while sitting on the toilette with constipation.

[NoahZark]

Originally posted by HomeAmateur:

I have always HATED the Doors, almost with a passion. I have never been able to figure out why so many people like them so much.

I've always hated the Doors, too, but, for me, the issue wasn't figuring out why others liked them so much. Rather, it was trying to understand why it was that I hated them so much.

 

It might've had something to do with what I thought was an undeserved mystique surrounding Morrison. It also might've been related to what I perceived as their pretentiousness. (I always had the feeling that the Doors viewed themselves as somehow more artistic and important than their contemporaries, and that turned me off.) Finally, it might've had to do with the fact that, in college, the very same people who liked the Doors always seemed to be the folks that I couldn't stand. (See, also, the Grateful Dead.)

 

At the end of the day, though, these reasons were insufficient to explain my hostility toward the band. I never could figure out why I hated them so much. I just did.

 

Noah

 

P.S. I do like "Peace Frog," though!

[jook]

I can dig your reason, NoahZark. I think it's true that sometimes we can't be completely objective when something has been tightly associated with say, certain people that we know, and they sorta become the same thing. I used to be put off by The Doors' pretentiousness so I can see where you're coming from, and I can also imagine, and have run into some people who I couldn't stand, who were into the Doors, and it makes it hard to seperate the two.

 

But I did come around to them after some time, and really love some of their material, and the band as a whole. It's the blues y'know, at the core of it. But of course, the blues mean different things to different people.

 

I have to say, I find it funny how theres people here who seem to enjoy just vocalising their dislike of the band. Fine if it's not your bag, that's understandable. But with the repeated sentiments, like from the recent "light my fire" thread, it almost seems like some people are just a bit too focused on knocking something else down to declare their self-appointed superiority. I don't particularly find that enjoyable.

 

I like Noah's post though, makes a good point. You might be interested to know that Manzarek hates the Grateful Dead and bashes them nicely in his book.

 

I guess from my point of view, I like the band, but I just think some of their fans and "followers" are daft.

[Dave Horne]

Originally posted by HomeAmateur:

I have always HATED the Doors, almost with a passion. I have never been able to figure out why so many people like them so much.

 

To me, every song sounds like someone moaning and growning while sitting on the toilette with constipation.

 

Thank you ... first laugh of the day.

[Dave Horne]

I guess from my point of view, I like the band ....

I can articulate the reasons why I don't like the band.

 

I would be most interested to hear your articulated reasons why you like the band. (I realize if I ask a three year old why he or she likes chocolate ice cream the reply might just be, I don't know, I just like it. That would be an unarticulated reply.)

[stepay]

Originally posted by mate_stubb:

I really don't think of Ray's solos as being particularly memorable. They just seem to me to be extensions of what he was already playing.

 

I guess his later stuff like LA Woman fills more of a traditional solo spot.

I agree 100%. Best I can describe Manzarek's playing is COOL; I'd never call his playing "impressive" like I would for Billy Preston or Rick Wakeman or some others, but his playing is COOL. His work in LA Woman is great -- understated and COOL as it gets.

 

Riders On The Storm -- great stuff in that song.

 

I'm surprised that MORE piano\keyboard players don't like The Doors. What's not to like about rock songs that have interesting keyboards throughout the song? You don't have to wait for a keyboard solo because Manzarek's already doing stuff right from the beginning.

 

LOVE The Doors.

 

Of course music is subjective, so no one can be wrong or right here.

 

To answer the original question, I would put the aforementioned LA Woman and Riders On The Storm at the top for me, but I enjoy his stuff in almost every Doors song.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

I would be most interested to hear your articulated reasons why you like the band. (I realize if I ask a three year old why he or she likes chocolate ice cream the reply might just be, I don't know, I just like it. That would be an unarticulated reply.)

Most people don't have the foggiest clue why they like something, though... it doesn't necessarily invalidate what they like. (Their tastebuds, smell and perception system work.)

 

The bad thing about a three year old's opinion is they have a long way to go with brain development. The good thing about a three year old is they aren't contaminated with idiotic and warped "adult" ideas.

 

http://www.cityinn.com/wmslib/General_Images/City_Inn_City_Cafe_Food_4.jpg

 

 

(Note that I'm not implying anything at all about the Doors and whether they're good/bad here.)

[Dave Horne]

Soundscape, while most people may not be able to articulate why they like or dislike something, I posted because of the following quote ...

I have to say, I find it funny how theres people here who seem to enjoy just vocalising their dislike of the band. Fine if it's not your bag, that's understandable. But with the repeated sentiments, like from the recent "light my fire" thread, it almost seems like some people are just a bit too focused on knocking something else down to declare their self-appointed superiority. I don't particularly find that enjoyable.

Not being able to articulate one's opinion does not necessarily invalidate one's opinion. Bering able to articulate one's opinion goes a longer way to give an opinion some credibility, some worth.

 

I have more respect for someone I disagree with if they can articulate their point of view.

[BluesKeys]

Not ever a Doors fan, never bought a record but had to endure their music because of friends. That said I use the decending lick from Rider's every night in our funk version of Come Together.

 

http://weststreetband.com/music/ComeTogether03.MP3

[soundscape]

Originally posted by Dave Horne:

I have more respect for someone I disagree with if they can articulate their point of view.

Oh sure... otherwise you end up with a "what's your favourite colour?" ("I like yellow!" "I like red!") kids' type "discussion."

 

Ideally a musician should be able to explain why a piece of music "works."

[Joe P]

Michael,

My first pick would be the Riders EP solo, second would be Light My Fire organ solo.

Regards,

Joe

[stepay]

Dave Horne, you are one interesting cat!

[soundscape]

Originally posted by soundscape:

Ideally a musician should be able to explain why a piece of music "works."

For example, here's the chords for "Cornflake Girl" (Tori Amos):

 

(Actually, I don't know if they're correct, but I think they're about right. I just pinched them from http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/t/tori_amos/cornflake_girl_ver2_crd.htm)

 

Fmaj9 Am7 C6 D7sus4 Fmaj9 Am7 C6 D7sus4

Fmaj9 Am7 C6 D7sus4 Fmaj9 Am7 C6

 

D Am7 C6 D7sus4 Fmaj9

C Dm C/E G

 

It is no accident that this song sounds weird. It's also no accident that it's no classic.

 

(Hint: Count the number of circle progressions.)

 

On the other hand, a simple harmonization of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" works. I'm not proposing that you limit yourself to that, of course... just saying it works.

[stepay]

Originally posted by BluesKeys:

Not ever a Doors fan, never bought a record but had to endure their music because of friends. That said I use the decending lick from Rider's every night in our funk version of Come Together.

 

http://weststreetband.com/music/ComeTogether03.MP3

BluesKeys,

 

Nice work there in that song.

 

I play that Riders On The Storm lick IN Riders On The Storm here - http://www.putfile.com/stepay/media

 

Live recording, so I mess up here and there, but not too bad overall I think. Crowds would love it when we'd play that song.

[Billdar]

Originally posted by BluesKeys:

Not ever a Doors fan, never bought a record but had to endure their music because of friends. That said I use the decending lick from Rider's every night in our funk version of Come Together.

 

http://weststreetband.com/music/ComeTogether03.MP3

That "descending lick" in Rider's, is, I believe, straight out of a Hanon book. But for me, while I dislike playing it, I have to say that it "worked" on the original song.

 

I think that there is a difference in how musicians approach jazz vs. "popular" music. With popular music, the "worth" is determined in dollars spent by the public for CD's and the like.

People articulate their opinions with their money.

[jook]

Sure, I don't mind articulating why I like the band. But soundscape's perfectly right in that you don't need to be able to articulate why you like something for it to be valid. Or perhaps when your kids tell you they're getting married, and say that the reason is they're in love, you ask them to list out the reasons, and draw out a chart weighing up the pros and cons? Do you really believe that you're not allowed to love something if you haven't worked out what it is you love about them?

 

But anyway, I've held back from saying most of htis in the Light My Fire thread, because it just took too much time, and it didn't feel like a particularly constructive conversation. I'm not setting out to convince anybody, and it doesn't sound much like people want to be convinced anyway. But if you're just inviting me to say why *I* like it, then sure, I'll be happy to.

 

For me, it's one of the earlier mixes of jazz and rock, a spontaneous pot-pourri of ideas with an underlying bluesy theme. The poetry don't particularly do much for me, but it's not bad, and it's theatrical. Manzarek brings in jazzy modalness, crossed with Brecht-Weill themes and boogie-woogie playing; Krieger employs flamenco style guitar playing on an electric - very unusual for rock guitar at the time, mixed with a bluesy slide playing and awareness; Densmore's jazzy drumming which is reserved and energetic at the same time. What can I say? Those things sound pretty good to me.

 

Now I'll try to address one of the big things people have complained about in the previous thread - that of simplicity and repetitiveness. As everyone has said, music tastes are subjective. And I can understand why some people gravitate towards complexly crafted music, with sophisticated structures and carefully calculated harmonies, etc. I enjoy that too, and admire it, much like ... fine architecture. Or well engineered machinary.

 

But for me, and many others, I also enjoy simpler things. Like a cottage in the country. Sometimes these things can even mean more to us. It doesn't have to for you, but it should be understandable that such appeal can be strong for others.

 

One thing that can be said for simplicity is that it can seem to be more raw in a way, and more immediate. It's part of nature, it's part of what's around us. I liken a simple 4/4 back beat to the beating of a heart. You know it, you trust it. When it's built up to be something overly complicated, for me, it sometimes starts to resemble a machine more than a human being. Or I might start to distrust it. Kinda like if a person comes up to you with a well thought-out, structured and practiced speech - reading from a palm card, about how incredibly upset they are - compared to a man who's um'ing and ah'ing, just saying what comes into his mind, struggling to find the words, and obviously driven by emotion more than mind - who would you more likely to be moved by?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting down complexity and craft. I love that too in many ways. But it depends on what the music is expressing, and what story it is trying to tell. Not every emotion and not every story calls for complexity and careful construction.

 

I hope some of the above gets my intention across. Cheers.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by Billdar:

That "descending lick" in Rider's, is, I believe, straight out of a Hanon book. But for me, while I dislike playing it, I have to say that it "worked" on the original song.

I don't know if that's true or not, but in general I have to say... it's another good reason for practicing Hanon.

 

Originally posted by Billdar:

I think that there is a difference in how musicians approach jazz vs. "popular" music. With popular music, the "worth" is determined in dollars spent by the public for CD's and the like.

People articulate their opinions with their money.

Hmm... well, if you mean the word "popular," I suppose so.

 

In terms of pop (or any music)... nope, you can write a good pop song (or any music) and sell no copies--it's still a good song.

 

The Doors are probably more rock than pop, though.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by jook:

Now I'll try to address one of the big things people have complained about in the previous thread - that of simplicity and repetitiveness. As everyone has said, music tastes are subjective. And I can understand why some people gravitate towards complexly crafted music, with sophisticated structures and carefully calculated harmonies, etc. I enjoy that too, and admire it, much like ... fine architecture. Or well engineered machinary.

Taste is subjective. Certain aspects of music aren't. The thing is that the "simple" stuff has to have solid structure. Otherwise it falls down. See above post on Tori Amos.

 

(Actually in relative terms that track isn't so simple. But I know the jazzers here will call it simple. )

 

As for repetitiveness... motifs? This is also pretty fundamental stuff.

 

Originally posted by jook:

Not every emotion and not every story calls for complexity and careful construction.

You will probably find "simple" yet enduring stories really do have solid plot structure. Actually, the hallmark of the "Hollywood" movie IS plot structure... and character's motivations are always clear, etc. It's a major reason why some denounce that type of movie, believing that everything should be altogether move ambigious, and reflect the "realities" of life, etc. (Yeah, right, I could just look out the freakin' window for that.)

 

Watch many a "goof off" movie, and actually you'll find the plot structure is intricately woven and putting it together is a nightmare of a big puzzle. Certain things must be introduced early to explain much later events, or pay off much later.

[Billdar]

Originally posted by soundscape:

Originally posted by Billdar:

That "descending lick" in Rider's, is, I believe, straight out of a Hanon book. But for me, while I dislike playing it, I have to say that it "worked" on the original song.

I don't know if that's true or not, but in general I have to say... it's another good reason for practicing Hanon.

 

Originally posted by Billdar:

I think that there is a difference in how musicians approach jazz vs. "popular" music. With popular music, the "worth" is determined in dollars spent by the public for CD's and the like.

People articulate their opinions with their money.

Hmm... well, if you mean the word "popular," I suppose so.

 

In terms of pop (or any music)... nope, you can write a good pop song (or any music) and sell no copies--it's still a good song.

 

The Doors are probably more rock than pop, though.

I mean "popular" music, which is music that earns that tag by being popular, which is typically gauged by "dollars earned" through sales of recordings, concert tickets, etc.

 

Does "pop music" meam something different than "popular music"? Well thinking about it, I suppose music intended to be popular, but failed in doing so, could earn the "pop" designation.

 

Well, more properly it could be called "unpop". Then we could all critique it with articulation!

[soundscape]

Pop is a catch-all term for a certain style of music--subgenres include Rn'B, etc.

 

Pop music (rather than "popular" music) is a catch-all term for certain styles of music--for example, Motown = pop music, and you could also call that R&B. OTOH, heavy metal is *NOT* a sub-genre of pop music... no matter how popular.

 

As I recall, the Wikipedia entry used to explain this pretty well, but it seems to have been edited into oblivion.

 

Originally posted by Billdar:

Well, more properly it could be called "unpop". Then we could all critique it with articulation!

LOL!

[ProfD]

I agree with Stepay in that Manzarek's playing was cool more than anything else.

 

"Love Me Two Times" to answer the question.

[burningbusch]

Must every single thread be pushed off-track?

 

It seems that Michael's question has purpose, i.e. an upcoming issue featuring Ray in some fashion. If we want the editors at Keyboard to continue to solicit our input we should attempt to provide direct, thoughtful responses to their questions.

 

Your dislike of the The Doors is irrelevant, as is the "pop" music rambling.

 

Take some Riddlin and try to focus.

 

Busch.

[Billdar]

Originally posted by burningbusch:

Must every single thread be pushed off-track?

 

It seems that Michael's question has purpose, i.e. an upcoming issue featuring Ray in some fashion. If we want the editors at Keyboard to continue to solicit our input we should attempt to provide direct, thoughtful responses to their questions.

 

Your dislike of the The Doors is irrelevant, as is the "pop" music rambling.

 

Take some Riddlin and try to focus.

 

Busch.

Burningbush,

 

I hope that I was not included in your reference about disliking the Doors. I like the Doors, and have written posts on other threads that indicate this quite clearly.

 

Also:

 

I understand your encouragement to "focus", and I, too, get a little tired of checking out a new post only to find out that it contained no truly useful information, or an opinion that was not based on actual use of the item being discussed. But I do excuse those posts that are nevertheless entertaining, and there are many of those on this forum. What I find most tiresome are posts that endlessly lambast and negatively critique, especially those based solely on hearsay.

 

But please understand that this is just my preference, and that some on this forum might find these posts entertaining. So I'll stop way short of trying to enact a rule to suit my personal preferences.

 

It seems that almost every thread goes off topic, and sometimes this is frustrating. But I often find these diversions entertaining, and sometimes they lead to very interesting and informative discussion.

 

I rather think that that Michael was perhaps interested in hearing a bit more than simple posts like "I like the solo in Light My Fire", which does stay focused and right on topic, though I think that this response is just fine, and of interest as well.

 

Basically, I only have time to post when my alternative is (quoting "Is there Gas in the Car") "sitting in a straight back chair, knitting something that isn't there".

 

So this morning my alternative was to "air knit", and I posted an uncharacteristic number of posts, including some that did not directly address the question posed in the original post.

 

But I made at least one person LOL! And I avoided a 10 minute air knitting session as well!